Archive

Archive for the ‘military’ Category

Tiny Pocketbots Prepped for Combat

August 19, 2011 1 comment

wired

When the U.S. military first got serious about ground robots, it bought up a bunch of 42-pound machines called PackBots. The name implied that infantrymen would just throw the robots in their rucksacks. In reality, the things were too heavy for already-overloaded troops to carry around on the regular. The PackBot’s main Read more…

Categories: military, Technology Tags: , , ,

Superfast Military Aircraft Crashed in Pacific Ocean, DARPA Says

August 12, 2011 Comments off
Falcon Hypersonic HTV-2 Payload Fairing Jettisoned
The Falcon hypersonic HTV-2 aircraft emerges from its payload fairing before gliding back to Earth.
CREDIT: DARPA

This story was updated at 5:42 p.m. ET.

An unmanned military plane billed as the “fastest aircraft ever built” crashed into the Pacific Ocean today (Aug. 11) after a malfunction caused it to stop sending signals while flying at more than 20 times the speed of sound, military officials said.

The flying prototype, called the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2), plunged into the ocean after shifting into a mode that allows it to fly Mach 20, or about 13,000 mph, according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which oversaw the Read more…

Categories: military, United States Tags: , , , , ,

Russia developing new air defense systems

August 11, 2011 Comments off

rian.ru

Russia developing new air defense systems

Russia is developing two air defense systems as part of future multilayered aerospace defense network, Air Force Commander Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin said on Tuesday.

“The Morfey is a short-range air defense system with effective range of five kilometers,” Zelin said. “It is designed to protect military installations and has both active and passive weapons [launchers and radars].”

Another system, the Vityaz, is a further development of the S-300 medium-range air defense system, whose combat capabilities largely surpass those of its predecessor.

“In fact, it could be considered a brand new system,” Zelin said, adding that the Vityaz would have a launcher with 16 missiles compared to only four on the S-300.

Both systems will complement the Read more…

Categories: military, Russia Tags: ,

Chinese Carrier Sea Trial Raises Concerns

August 11, 2011 1 comment

voanews

China to give more information about its first aircraft carrier, which was sent out on an initial sea trial Wednesday.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department told reporters that Washington would welcome any kind of explanation China would like to give for needing this kind of equipment. She said China’s lack of transparency about its military acquisitions and its military budget raises concerns.

Earlier Wednesday, Beijing announced that the carrier it purchased from Ukraine in 1998 had left the port of Dalian for its inaugural sea trial.

Little was said about the vessel formerly known as the Varyag until last month when Chinese defense officials said it would Read more…

Categories: China, military Tags: , , , , , ,

Minotaur rocket to carry military weapon

August 9, 2011 Comments off

lompocrecord

More than 15 months after the first one failed, the Defense Department plans a second test of its super-fast weapon that will ride in a rocket scheduled to launch Wednesday morning from Vandenberg Air Force Base.

The Minotaur 4 Lite rocket, assembled by Orbital Sciences Corp. crews from retired Peacekeeper missile stages, is scheduled to blast off between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. Wednesday from Space Launch Complex-8 on South Base.

The rocket will carry the Falcon Hypersonic Test Vehicle or HTV-2 for the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s Tactical Projects Office.

Weather for Wednesday morning remains suitable for blastoff, but not necessarily viewing. Launch weather officers say the marine layer and fog will be prevalent at the start of the window, but begin breaking up later in the morning. Visibility is expected to be one mile with mist falling.

Space weather could Read more…

Categories: military, United States Tags: , , , , ,

China willing to facilitate military cooperation with Russia: senior military officer

August 8, 2011 Comments off

investors

MOSCOW, Aug 07, 2011 (Xinhua via COMTEX) — Chen Bingde, chief of the General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China, stressed here on Sunday that China is willing to further promote military cooperation with neighboring Russia.

Chen, who visited Russian military units from Friday to Sunday, said that China’s army would like to work with the Russian forces to further advance their military ties, exchange their beneficial experience on building forces, and share with each other the achievements of military reforms.

China wants to step up its cooperation with Russia to mutually promote the army building in both countries, said Chen.

During his stay, Chen has visited several Russian units, including the Read more…

Categories: China, military, Russia Tags: , , ,

Copter Downed by Taliban Fire; Elite U.S. Unit Among Dead

August 6, 2011 Comments off

nytimes.com

S. Sabawoon/European Pressphoto Agency

Afghan insurgents on Saturday said they had shot down a Chinook transport helicopter similar to the one seen loading troops in Kabul in 2004

The attack in Wardak Province killed seven Afghans.

KABUL, Afghanistan — In the deadliest day for American forces in the nearly decade-long war in Afghanistan, insurgents shot down a Chinook transport helicopter on Saturday, killing 30 Americans, including some Navy Seal commandos from the unit that killed Osama bin Laden, as well as 8 Afghans, American and Afghan officials said.

The helicopter, on a night-raid mission in the Tangi Valley of Wardak Province, to the west of Kabul, was most likely brought down by a rocket-propelled grenade, one coalition official said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, and they could hardly have found a more valuable target: American officials said that 22 of the dead were Navy Seal commandos, including members of Seal Team 6. Other commandos from that team conducted the raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that killed Bin Laden in May. The officials said that those who were killed Saturday were not involved in the Pakistan mission.

Saturday’s attack came during a Read more…

Categories: Afghanistan, military, Taliban, United States Tags: , , , , , ,

Military Launches Unmanned Solar-powered Lighter-than-air Vehicle (Airship)

August 4, 2011 Comments off

ottawacitizen

Akron, Ohio – The U.S. Army and Lockheed Martin launched the first-of-its kind High Altitude Long Endurance-Demonstrator this morning, demonstrating a number of key technologies critical to development of unmanned airships.

The aircraft successfully launched at 5:47 a.m. out of the Airdock in Akron, Ohio. The airship reached an altitude of approximately 32,000 feet, however, a technical anomaly prevented the airship from attaining its target altitude of 60,000 feet and the HALE-D team decided to terminate the flight.
The aircraft descended without incident at 8:26 a.m. in southwestern Pennsylvania to a predetermined landing location. Lockheed Martin is coordinating with state and local authorities to recover the airship. We have confirmed that no injuries or damage were experienced during this landing in a heavily wooded area.

“While we didn’t reach the target altitude, first flights of new technologies like HALE-D also afford us the ability to Read more…

Categories: military Tags: , , , , ,

China Is Filling Gaps In Its Military With Lots And Lots Of Missiles

July 29, 2011 Comments off

businessinsider

China missile

PLA DF-31A mobile ICBM TELs

Image: AUS Airpower

Despite the stealth jets, an aircraft carrier and drones, China’s military is relatively weak, according to military analyses parsed by Wired. To compensate Beijinghas been buying lots and lots of missiles:“All kinds of missiles: short-range and long-range; land-based, air-launched and sea-launched; ballistic and cruise; guided and “dumb … “For every category of weaponry where the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) lags behind the Pentagon, there’s a Chinese missile to help make up the difference.”

One disadvantage for China, for instance, is a dearth of air-refueling tankers — just 14 compared to 500 in the U.S. Air Force alone. This means of the Read more…

Categories: China, military Tags: , , ,

US Navy orders laser machine guns

July 28, 2011 1 comment

theregister

US Navy warships will soon be equipped with fearful combination weapons mounts boasting both heavy machine-guns and high powered laser rayguns, it has been announced.

Manufacturer Boeing says it has inked a teaming agreement with the US operations of arms globo-mammoth BAE Systems to build the Mk 38 Mod 2 Tactical Laser System to naval requirements. We learn that the new raygun installation will be based on the existing Mk 38 Machine Gun System, a robotic gun turret whose primary punch is provided by the fearsome M242 Bushmaster Chain Gun, effectively a light auto-cannon.

The new enhanced laser version will also boast a high-energy laser intended for such tasks as raying small flying robots and/or boats:

The addition of the laser weapon module brings high-precision accuracy against surface and air targets such as small boats and unmanned aerial vehicles. The system also provides the ability to Read more…

Categories: military, United States Tags: , , , ,